Star Gate-Chapter 1696: Life is Very Exciting! (I)

“Don’t forget that you’ll be up against one hundred other exalted emperors!” cautioned a frowning Sword Sovereign. “That’s not a small number. So many exalted emperors acting in joint coordination will be able to eliminate a seventh rank!”

Don’t think too little of these people, they’re all heavyweights. Do you really think they’re nice, harmless folks?

Li Hao looked up, finding only chaos overhead. There was no sky in the chaos. He laughed and looked at Li Zhu. “It’s fine, Senior Li Zhu, we shall know today how powerful your dao of hiding is! I want thunder and lightning to blast Red Moon’s great dao, break through its world, and suppress the exalted emperors!

“If we are unable to collect sufficient thunder and lightning to smite that world... then the two of us will go down in a blaze of thunderbolts!”

“......” Li Zhu gaped. I’ve seen how arrogant and domineering the Human King can be, but now... I’ve only seen this fellow twice. I’ve even just met him, but why does he feel... just as crazed as the Human King? “Will the thunder and lightning be strong?”

“Very strong!” answered Li Hao. “I borrowed a seventh rank’s strength on a previous occasion, so we will see a seventh rank tribulation in response! And if I help Senior Fog Mountain recover today, there is sure to be another premier seventh rank tribulation that comes.

“Added to that utilizing the power of time on multiple past occasions, it will be the strongest of peak seventh rank tribulations, if not eighth rank. There will be at least nine bolts of seventh rank thunder and lightning...”

“I can do that!” Li Zhu nodded after a brief moment of silence. “But you and I will have to suffer through our fair share of thunder and lightning as well. We’ll have to take nine bolts, each of them the equivalent of a seventh rank’s full strength.

“Granted, they might not be that strong if some of it is portioned to Red Moon. They could be initial seventh rank instead of peak. I won’t have much trouble with it. How about you?”

Li Zhu was confident that he could rise to the occasion without much problem. What about Li Hao?

The young man smiled and looked at Void. The latter looked blankly back at him before understanding. He stared speechlessly at his friend.

“I will... focus on revitalizing you. But if the tribulation strikes you dead with one bolt... I don’t have the ability to raise you from the dead!”

He could endlessly bring Li Hao back so long as the thunderbolts didn’t smite the young man dead. If they did, Void’s dao of life and death was yet to reach the stage of reversing death.

“Then that’s enough. In addition, keep an eye on the Pagoda King and the other two!”

The world of emptiness materialized, as did the dao of hiding. Li Zhu summoned a domain without any protest. It enveloped the group as everyone concealed their presences as well. Up ahead, a massive red moon was within sight.

Li Hao had been setting up his plans ever since his last departure from Skyward. Although some problems had appeared in the middle, it was time for the harvest today. There were a lot of exalted emperors facing them, but so long as the tribulation was strong enough and everyone forced to endure them together, it would be those unlucky who were struck down first!

......

Red Moon.

The remaining exalted emperors weren’t that uneasy when their world master left. He would be fine, since there were five premier exalted emperors in that group. Their battle strength was on par with the best that an eighth rank major world could offer. Skycloud and the others would not be bringing their full force forward in support, so there was nothing much to worry about.

Those remaining were more concerned whether or not New Martial would attack. However, since there had been no movement from their nemesis last time, that represented that New Martial was not in the vicinity. That was more reassuring.

The seventh rank Griefstricken was holding down the fort alone at Red Moon. Meanwhile, seventh rank Wave Moon was at the neighboring Skywave. They weren’t too far away, so Griefstricken wasn’t terribly concerned.

The major worlds all had world barriers around them. Regular people were hard to force their way through the world barrier, not to mention that these worlds had masters in them. They weren’t hovering aimlessly like the ninth rank Skyward.

When it came to worlds with masters, even eighth ranks were hard pressed to gain admittance when the world gates were closed.

......

At the same time.

The Pagoda King suddenly lifted his head. As a newly surrendered exalted emperor, he was different from the Orchid Forest exalted emperors. Although there were some restrictions laid on him, he moved with relative freedom.

There were also Red Moon exalted emperors stationed around him.

Clearly, they were all here to keep him under watch. It represented that Red Moon didn’t fully trust him yet. That was only to be expected!

The Pagoda King seemed to sense something or receive word—whatever it was, it wasn’t too clear. He was vaguely aware of some of the situation and looked at the other two surrendered exalted emperors nearby—Mo and Cicada.

These two had already displayed utmost loyalty in not betraying Li Hao after joining Red Moon. After all, one side was an eighth rank world and the other a third rank exalted emperor. It would be normal if they turned on the young man. That they hadn’t was a display of integrity.

Even though it hadn’t been long since they joined Li Hao’s side, the Pagoda King thought highly enough of them.

“Some things will take place in a bit!” he transmitted to the two. “We have two options ahead of us. We can either break free of Red Moon the second the developments take place, or we can stay and choose to fend off attackers with the rest of Red Moon’s exalted emperors!

“The first involves relinquishing our energy from the dao universe and awaiting rescue! The second...” The Pagoda King hesitated. “The second requires absorbing more Red Moon strength so that the three of us can set foot into peak third rank as soon as possible.

“So long as the opportunity is appropriate, we might even have a chance to set foot into fourth rank. It will involve a bit of risk. How will you two choose?”

The two looked at each other. Was Li Hao here? But there were seventh ranks in residence here! Even the Orchid Forest master was gone. Were they... going forward with the plan?

“What do you think, Fellow Daoist Pagoda King?” the two asked probingly of the youngster from New Martial.

Indeed, the Pagoda King was a youngster to them, but they didn’t dare think lightly of him for his age.

“I’m betting on the second option, this is our chance!” transmitted the Pagoda King. “Red Moon has been heavily injured, this is a tremendous opportunity. It would be difficult to join Red Moon again if we break free now.

“The Red Moon master is alive, after all, and the Red Moon dao universe will not be destroyed. It will be heavily damaged at most. We might be able to gain bigger benefits from this, assuming that we survive the happenings to come.”

The two were rather hesitant, this was too dangerous. But then they looked at the Pagoda King and set their jaws. The Pagoda King was someone very smart and very... despicable. If he wasn’t afraid and dared make the gamble, shouldn’t they?

The shame of New Martial isn’t the slightest bit concerned!

“Pagoda King, will the Silver Moon king... succeed?” That was what they were more worried about. There were two seventh ranks around, with the other one able to arrive at any second. There were also plenty of exalted emperors on Red Moon. Just the thought of the one hundred exalted emperors made their scalps crawl with horror.

It was only after joining Red Moon did they understand why a major world was so formidable. Just having so many exalted emperors alone was terrifying.

“Delete that question mark! We’ll all die if he doesn’t succeed, and we’ll all win if he does!” The Pagoda King wasn’t considering possible failure at all. If Li Hao failed, they were all doomed. If he succeeded, then it would be time to split the spoils.

Hence, he was only considering the consequences of winning. He didn’t care what Li Hao’s plans were. Although he hadn’t known the Silver Moon king for long and the young man seemed affable, in reality, he was quite a ruthless person.

And someone with a lot of patience.

He’d laid his plans for so long in pursuit of Red Moon major world and forgone the seventh rank Orchid Forest. To be honest, the Human King would’ve long taken out whoever he could. He would never wait around like this.

......

Thunderclouds hovered in and out of sight overhead. A star materialized in front of Li Hao. A domain stretched out around him—the domain of emptiness and one of the dao of hiding. Both Void and Li Zhu were calling upon their dao methods. Li Hao was as well, to conceal the surroundings.

Fog Mountain stood in front of him, and he observed with a rapidly shifting expression. What was this?

He wasn’t certain and had some guesses, just felt that it was incredible. Was this... time? Was Li Hao reversing time?

Indeed, the young man sought to reverse time to help Fog Mountain recover to peak condition.

“Senior, energy doesn’t come out of nowhere. I can help you recover to your prime now, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to maintain it. It’s just that my and Void’s energy can push you back to your previous condition for a short while.

“I don’t know how long it’ll last, but it won’t be long! You’ll also lose all of your energy after that and will only be able to recover through devouring a dao universe. If we succeed, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to recover. If we don’t... that will be the end of everything.”

“It’s really quite heaven defying!” A grave Fog Mountain looked at Li Hao. “Is there any other cost to this apart from chaos tribulations?”

“It will consume some of your life,” Li Hao said slowly. “I’m almost at the end of my lifespan after repeatedly using the power of time!”

“Huh?” Fog Mountain blinked. You’re... about to die? Come off of it!

Li Hao didn’t further explain himself. He’d expended a lot of vitality to utilize the power of time multiple times. But.. that was fine, it didn’t matter. He’d died three times already!

He should’ve experienced the fourth death last time, but Void had helped him avoid it. It would be very hard to do so this time as employing time drained him too much.

If he succeeded in his endeavors, he did not care about dying one more time. He cared even less if he failed. If I fail, I’ll probably be completely dead.

Time flowed backwards!

A massive amount of its power gathered on Fog Mountain, just to trace his condition back for a short while. Fog Mountain was just an ordinary cultivator at the moment; there wasn’t much difficulty with tracing time for him. But as his presence built, so did large beads of sweat drip down Li Hao’s forehead.

The young man’s face grew older; it wasn’t so easy to bring a peak seventh rank back. Even just for a split second was a massive consumption of his resources. Off to the side, Void continuously employed the method of revitalization to coalesce the flower of life so that Li Hao could recover.

Their concerted efforts were only enough to briefly bring back a peak seventh rank for a short period of time.